Sporting Life

Having your son play at AFL level is a thrill in itself, but imagine the pride you would feel at seeing him slot through an after-the-siren goal to tie a match. Loretta Hill, mother of rising West Coast star Ashley Sampi, knows all about that, having been at Subiaco on Sunday when the 19-year-old saved the day for the Eagles in the thriller against the Western Bulldogs. At least, she should know. Only trouble for Loretta was that a few minutes before the game finished, with the Eagles trailing by 13 points and her son off the ground, she thought it was an opportune time to beat the traffic and head to the airport to pick up her other son, Dwayne, who was returning home from Broome. "It's true, I missed his big moment," said Sampi's proud mum from Perth yesterday.

"After leaving our seats with the game almost over, I stood briefly at the bottom of the stands while my mother went to the toilet. I could hear all the cheering but couldn't see anything."

It wasn't until Loretta caught up with her daughter, who had gone ahead of them, that she realised what had happened. "I even missed Ashley's speech," she said.

Doggies to rescue

The Western Bulldogs came away empty handed after their heart-breaking draw against West Coast at the weekend, but not so a group of young West Australian footballers.

At the end of the game the Bulldogs players handed over a pair of their boots to help outfit the 15 and 16-year-old members of the Perth-based Clontas Aboriginal Academy, who until now have been forced to play in their bare feet. The spontaneous gesture happened after former Richmond and Fremantle player Ashley Prescott, these days the academy's head coach, last week rang his former Tiger teammate, and now Bulldog, Ben Harrison and told him of the team's plight. Harrison in turn mentioned it to the players after training just before the team flew to Perth and when Prescott came into the Bulldogs' rooms on Sunday, Harrison handed him a bag containing about 25 pairs of $150-$200 boots, most of which were near new. So when members of the academy team run on to the ground for a match this week, instead of being barefooted they will be wearing shoes once worn by the likes of Nathan Brown, Brad Johnson and Luke Darcy.

That's 260 times 26

And our congratulations to Adelaide's Mark Bickley, football's multi-milestone man. On Sunday not only will he join the AFL's 300 club (made up of 260 premiership matches, 31 pre-season, seven State-of-Origin and two international rules games), but he will also become the player to have worn the number 26 the most times in league history. He holds the record with Rodney Eade, who wore 26 in his 259 games for Hawthorn and Brisbane. No.26, we can tell you, has adorned the backs of some pretty handy players over the years, including Collingwood's Gavin Brown (254), Sydney's Stevie Wright (246), Geelong's Barry Stoneham (240) and Essendon's Mark Thompson and former Collingwood and Carlton star Ray Byrne (both 202).

Jason's call

He is all class, that Jason McCartney. After farewelling football in emotional scenes at Telstra Dome last Friday, one of the first things the Kangaroo did at the weekend was to telephone Richmond's Darren Gaspar to wish him a speedy recovery from the season-ending knee injury he received in the match. McCartney told Gaspar that his setback and the injury to Roo teammate Leigh Colbert were the only sour notes on what had been a fantastic night.

Out and out

Wimbeldon 2003 is almost upon us and already some of the big names, most notably 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic and pin-up gal Anna Kournikova, are under injury clouds. Kournikova, in fact, was in tears after a back complaint forced her to withdraw from two grasscourt lead-up events, the Birmingham Classic and next week's tournament at Eastbourne. But what promises to be the saddest, and possibly the most spectacular, Wimbledon exit ever, is if Ivanisevic succumbs to his constant elbow and shoulder injuries. Have a listen.

"If I had to play the last match of my career, I would like it to be at Wimbledon," said the colourful Croat.

"But I do not want to go on court and crawl like a pig. If I cannot serve on grass, there is nothing I can do. Maybe I can help cut the grass or serve some strawberries."

And then this: "Coming to London and not playing Wimbledon would be like going to Rome and not seeing the Pope. If I can't play, maybe I will walk home."

A real stinker

And we liked this line from Cincinnati college student Corin Pennella, whose Hungarian hunting dog, Chase, is among the canines competing for the title of Worst Dog Breath in America on June 23. According to Corin, Chase's breath is so bad, "it smells like my brother's room".